Know your library jargon

By Jillian Viljoen

The 3^rd industrial revolution or 3IR, COVID-19 protocols, comorbidities, new normal … Are these words familiar? Do you find yourself using these words in daily conversations? How about malfeasance? This word is commonly used in politics when referring to the misappropriation of funds. We are constantly exposed to new words with every change or development in all spheres of life. We hear them on the radio, in news bulletins and read them in the newspaper and magazines. Our ears, eyes and minds are bombarded so much by these words and phrases that eventually we start using them in our conversations. It is as if our vocabulary expands after absorbing these words like a sponge, and we do not even need to use a dictionary to find the definitions because their contexts are thrust upon us with clarity. This is a stark reminder of how easy it is for children to absorb information, behaviours and other skills just by watching and listening to people around them.

UKZN library jargon are words and terms which should be part of your daily academic life. Electronic Resources, Databases, Online Library Catalogue, Global Protect Client, Off-Campus Access, ResearchSpace, LibGuides, My Library Account … The list is endless. Are these words familiar to you as a student at UKZN? Do you know how to effectively use the library resources? Do you know the library’s web address, https://library.ukzn.ac.za/? If your answer is no to any of these questions, contact a subject librarian, https://library.ukzn.ac.za/contact-subject-librarians/.

Various types of jargon are always circulated which unconsciously become part of our everyday lives. We use this jargon as a means of communication and are able to connect with the people around us, having an instant rapport because of the familiarity of the language used. This applies to our academic lives as well. We need to assimilate the jargon in the academic community and this includes the library. The library is a fountain of research resources. We just need to understand and access it with the assistance of the library staff.

 

Know your library jargon. It will make doing research so much easier.

What I have learnt from the online library training sessions

 

by Shorba Harkhu

The library has just completed an intensive two week online training session aimed at new, in particular first-year students via Zoom. Sessions included training on Google Scholar, referencing, the catalogue, my library account and ebooks.

At UKZN libraries, subject librarians oversee a group of subjects and provide assistance to their staff and students which includes training on the use of various resources. In most instances subject-specific library training is carried out solely by the subject librarian, occasionally assisted by a colleague. Before the implementation of Covid-19 restrictions, the general library training sessions were campus-based.  Now we are hosting online sessions with colleagues from other UKZN libraries and campuses. Co-presenting for the first time with colleagues from a different library and campus has been an enriching experience.

Attending these sessions gives us an indication of how well we are faring in our own sessions, how we need to improve, what we need to include in our own library instruction sessions; also the do’s and don’ts of presenting.

I have admired the different approaches taken by colleagues when presenting the content. By attending these sessions I have realised that there are bits of information that I have not included in my training sessions. Did you know that Google Scholar has something called Google Patents, and that you can also create labels for your saved items? I need to make a note of these to include in my next Google Scholar session.  

I have also learnt a lot about the different styles of presentation.  I have yet to emulate the calm and collected dispositions of some of the presenters, and can only dream of having the honeyed voices of others.

I am sure by attending these sessions we were able to glean ideas for our own library training sessions, whether it is to improve on our presentations or content. I have picked up the following pointers from the sessions attended:

1. Be prepared and know your subject matter. I am sure you have heard this many times before, but preparation is key to a good presentation.
2. Create a lesson plan on what you are going to teach. This includes making a note of the search terms you are going to use and the areas you are going to cover. This would prevent you from fumbling should you get kicked out of a Zoom session while presenting.
3. Be clear in what you are presenting. It is easy to forget that students may have no prior knowledge of library terminology that you take for granted.
4. Engage with the audience. Zoom prevents you from interacting face-to-face with your audience. I liked the idea of one of my colleagues asking students before her presentation to write down in the chat what they are studying.

What have you learnt from these sessions? Please share your thoughts and ideas.

 

Diversity in the workplace

 

by Nontobeko Sikhosana

Every company has a unique set of goals and the diversity practices must align with them to be successful.  Even today employees in organizations or libraries have different cultures and personalities. Diverse workforces help to increase profitability. Companies that look beyond the “culture fit” to focus on “culture add” will reap the rewards of a rich company culture.

To achieve diversity throughout the entire workforce, companies must intentionally recruit, hire and retain talent that is diverse in background, education and experience. These factors have an impact on an individual’s understanding of the world and are shaped by their race, gender, age, culture, religious and political beliefs, socioeconomic background, geographic location, sexual orientation, citizenship status, mental and physical conditions, and so on. When companies employ a diverse workforce, they benefit from the full spectrum of ideas, talent and creativity.

Diversity is not just about human resources and organizational culture for a library. The interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights by American Library Association (2006) states that librarians have an obligation to select and support the access to materials on all subjects that meet, as closely as possible the needs and interests of all persons in the community which the library serves. This includes materials that reflect political, economic, religious, social, minority, and sexual issues.

Libraries must have a clear sense of what diversity means to the organization before embarking upon collection assessment. Most colleges and universities have created non-discrimination and diversity statements that reflect the goals and values of the institution. Academic libraries should align their own definitions of diversity with that of the parent institution, while creating library-specific policies and guidelines that seek to ensure that all services, collections, processes, and procedures in the library meet the diversity goals of the library and the institution. Diversity collection assessment ensures that the goals of selecting, acquiring, and maintaining a collection that meets the diversity goals and needs of the institution are being met.

Diversity in academic libraries is thus beyond human resources, in a diverse library workforce, library users can find someone to relate to, and get services that are sensitive to their needs and preferences. Diversity also improves staff performance and overall library success.    

References

American Library Association (2006), “Diversity”, ALA Policy Manual, available at: www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/ governance/policymanual/index.cfm (accessed April 9, 2021).

American Library Association. 2006. Diverse Collections: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights [Online]. Available: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/diversecollections [Accessed 21 April 2021].

Ciszek, M.P. and Young, C.L., 2010. Diversity collection assessment in large academic libraries. Collection Building.

Moran, C. 2019. What is diversity in the workplace?(And how to achieve it?) [Online]. Available: https://learn.g2.com/diversity-in-the-workplace [Accessed 09 April 2021].